Students Trade in Homecoming Mums to Donate to Local Nonprofit

Homecoming mums and garters are a tradition as big as Texas, but a group of students from Clear Creek High School are going against the norm to raise money for a local nonprofit.

Students from Kelli Geise’s advanced fashion class have decided that instead of purchasing a homecoming mum, which in some cases can be more than $100, they are going to sell T-shirts to benefit Bay Area Turning Point.

“We wanted to contribute to something bigger,” said Aaliyah Thomas, a senior at Clear Creek High School.

Bay Area Turning Point is a nonprofit, community-based social service agency that provides a variety of services, including shelter, to families in need and public education/crime prevention activities in the Greater Bay Area and surrounding areas, according to the organization’s website.

The organization serves those impacted by family violence and sexual assault, including stranger and non-stranger sexual assault.

The students are calling their campaign, Mums4Mums, and have set a goal of selling 300 shirts for $20 apiece. If they reach their goal, that $6,000 is enough to run the shelter through the holidays, Geise said.

Earlier this week, they had already sold 50 shirts and raised $1,000 to donate to the organization.

With $1,000, Bay Area Turning Point can provide more than 100 hours of onsite childcare at the shelter.

Some other examples of what monetary donations can provide to Bay Area Turning Point area:

$45 can provide a safe haven for an adult and two children for one night

$250 can provide milk at the shelter for one week

$500 can provide meat and food in the shelter for one week

$2,500 can pay for utility costs at the shelter for three weeks

Now, with a week before homecoming, the girls feel pretty confident they will reach their goal with the help of their classmates.

The students are not asking for their classmates to not purchase a homecoming mum at all, but rather spend $20 less than they normally would and put that money to their cause.

Their hope is that at Clear Creek’s Oct. 28 homecoming game against Clear Lake, that students will flood the stands with the maroon Mums4Mums shirts.